Eternal Rivalry
by grilledjellyfish
Summary: Don't we all need an eternal rival? The best example being, of course, Gai and Kakashi! But how in Gods name did their eternal rivalry start in the first place? Who initiated it? no Yaoi!


Author's notes:  
If there are any words that seem to be out of place and sound something like 'fsjhbas' or 'nsdkj87samn', then these might be the parts the baby-squirrel 'wrote' while jumping around on the keyboard of my laptop (and my nerves!  
Any other mistakes (spelling and grammar) are my own fault... may be lack of sleep or Kakashi's gaze on me (I wish), but it happened and I hope you can forgive me. 

Thanks go to my lil sis and Gai O.O' for inspiring me!

--------------------

"Yo."

Looking up from the blank page in his hands, Asuma stared with half closed lids at the man having just appeared in a cloud of smoke out of nowhere.  
"How are ya?" He asked, taking a pen from the low table where his boot-clad feet rested comfortably.

"'s been better... those pals were sorta annoying but the good guys won"  
Pulling off his ANBU mask, the silver-haired shinobi plopped down to Asuma's right, letting his head fall back over the couch.

"And here?" "Mission was boring... don't know what to write in that damn report!" He retorted, fishing a cigarette out of a breast pocket, nomally reserved for ninja scrolls and weapons, and lit it.  
"Well, I definitely know it. Hatake Kakashi, knight in shining armor, came, saw, kicked some asses and rescued the damn sexy damsel in distress!"

Sighing, Asuma let go of the pen and leaned back, too.  
"You're not supposed to write a tale, Kakashi. I heard you hold a new record... your report is two days late already. Hokage the Third is roally pissed off"  
"Right... um, gonna do something about that... anything else? The Hokage still negotiating?" The Jounin asked matter of factly, grabbing an orange book from the table he had never seen there before... somebody had probably forgotten it.  
'Icha Icha Paradise', the title read.

"Ya get a double 'yes'. He's still up in the tower talking with those rats, but I doubt they'll agree"  
"Thought so." Kakashi nodded, absently scratching his chin through his black mask, listening as two set of boots entered the room through the door behind the couch. "And the second?"

"We lost three today"  
"Damn... any survivors?" Opening his eyes, Asuma glanced sideways to where Kakashi had sat straight, waiting patiently for an answer. One black and one red eye watched him intensely and if he hadn't been already used to it, a shiver would have probably run down Asuma's spine.

He exhaled a lung of smoke with a sigh.  
"Maito Gai."

A frown appeared on the other man's forehead. Slowly he took out his hitai-ate and covered his red eye with it.  
"That guy who cant't use any gen- or nin-jutsu?"

"Yeah... lost his best friend in that mission"  
For a brief second Asuma thought he had seen pain flicker through Kakashi's visible eye, but when he looked again there were no emotions.

"Alright... gonna have something to eat and then probably hit the hay. See ya around"  
With that Kakashi got up from the couch, lifting his hand 'hi' to two women smiling gently towards him.  
Before he left in another spectacular cloud of smoke, he winked boyishly at the two, gaining a soft giggle.

"Chickenshit..." Asuma mumbled around his cigarette, taking again the pen and staring at the still blank sheet of paper.

----------

Wednesday.  
Kakashi hated Wednesdays.

Not because it was the middle of the week.  
He hated those days because it meant friday was near. And on friday he had his day off most of the time... apart from days when another war was brooding near border or another pal had to be assassinated.

On friday he had time... way too much for his liking, especially since his brain used free time to do stupid stuff, such as thinking, remembering, dealing (or at least trying to). And to be frank, he'd rather get chained to a wall than think about anything related to 'that' day, 'that' boy or 'that' gift.

What he needed was a bed.  
No, wait! First he wanted some sake... maybe more than just some.  
Kakashi hadn't been drunk in a very long time and felt he needed some cheap booze ASAP!

Jumping off of another roof, he landed on a lantern.  
He was just about to get onto the next one, when his eye caught sight of a man in a green spandex staggering through the barely illuminated street.

He had obviously been released from (or maybe he had just sneaked out of) hospital, his freshly bandaged head, chest and legs giving him away... even a blind man would have noticed the way he tried to stay off his left leg.

Kakashi watched the other man for some seconds, considering getting down from his lantern and offering help.  
It was then that one small part of his mind yelled 'STOP', asking him whether he'd really be able to deal with a crying, broken man.

The answer was simple and cruel: No.

Closing his eyes for a moment, the young silver-haired man got up from his crouching position and looked for the next roof he could land on.  
Before he disappeared he glanced one last time across his shoulder, watching sadly as Gai vanished behind the corner of a house.

----------

"Idiots"  
"Iruka, calm down. We'll find them and no parents will chop off your head"  
Exhaling sharply, the man with the large scar across his nose eyed the Third Hokage doubtfully.

The door opened slightly, the head of Hatake Kakashi peeking in through the gap.  
"You called, Hokage?"

"Four boys disappeared out of class at 10.00 that morning and are nowhere to be found. I want you to find them and get them back before dusk. Here's a schoolbag with the scent"  
"Yup, not a prob at all."

Closing the door behind him, he walked casually out of the Hokage Tower, the bag dangling by his side.  
Right after he had reached some tall trees outside the building he pulled out a small scroll and bit into his thumb.  
With rapid movements, Kakashi performed a set of hand seals and slammed the scroll down into the ground, before getting up and leaning back against a tree.

"Whatcha want?" A small brownish dog asked from where he had appeared out of the ground.  
"Here..." Tossing the bag in front of the pet, the Jounin waited for it to take in the scent. "Paccun, ya have to find that brat. Disappeared three hours ago along with three friends."

"Already found 'em... 'bout five kilometers in the south"  
"Lead me there." Kakashi told the dog, pushing away from the trunk and setting off into the general direction Paccun had mentioned.  
The dog was already hot on his heels and soon caught up, leading the way to the south gate of Konohagakure where the large forest started.

'At least I won't have to stay at home... damn friday!' he thought with a grunt as he sped through the thick foliage of the trees, dodging large branches on his way.

"Smell's getting stronger here... maybe another kilometer or so, Kakashi." The dog told his summoner after a while of silence,  
suddenly changing direction.  
The man didn't let loose and followed close behind.

After another minute, Paccun stopped suddenly dead on a large branch of a tree towering at the edge of a clearing.  
Kakashi snorted when he saw what had made Paccun stop.  
"I gotta go, Kakashi"  
"Yup, thanks."

With that the dog vanished with a 'puff' in a small cloud of smoke.  
Sighing, Kakashi jumped down from the branch and landed without a noise in the soft grass of the clearing, arms akimbo.

"What the hell!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"ARGH"  
Shocked at the sudden appearance of the man, four boys fell head first into a small brook.  
"We-we..." A boy with big cheeks and dark blond hair stuttered, staring at the booted feet of Kakashi as he bent down to pick up an open bag of chips where the boy had lost it thanks to him.

"Ha! Caught ya!"

Irritated, Kakashi stared at another blond boy with a frown.  
He knew very well who he was, or better what he was carrying within him, allowing another painful memory of a man he had once admired a great deal flickering through his mind.

"My ass. I caught 'you'!" He told him with a sigh. "Whatcha doing here! Everybody's up and searching for ya!"

Cheeks coloured slightly red, a boy with black messy hair and a puppy (Kakashi remembered him to be a Yamazuke) scratched the back of his head. "We just wanted to train with the shuriken... that wannabe teacher was just too damn boring." He told Kakashi, the baby dog barking in obvious agreement.  
"How troublesome..." Was all the fourth boy offered, before he jammed his hands deep into his trouser pockets and stared at the ground in front of his wet boots.

"I don't care what stupid excuses ya got! You come with me or I'll drag ya back"  
Rolling their eyes (Kakashi included), they started to head back towards the village.

With the four kids, who had barely started with their ninja training, the journey lasted hours in Kakashi's opinion! And that ongoing quarrel about whose fault was it the most slowly but surely strained his precious nerves! He, who was famous for not losing his temper in any, 'any' situation suddenly felt his eye starting to twitch whenever one of the kids yelled another abuse.

'They're such a pain in the ass!' he thought when the boy with the dog fought with the blond brat, accompanied by the pathetic excuse of a dangerous bark.

Shaking his head, Kakashi mumbled something about "Never going to take over a team of noisy genins", before swirling around and glaring daggers down at the four boys.  
"Just keep silent for the next ten minutes, alright! The village is nearly in sight"  
Receiving some (more or less) intimidated nods, he turned back around and was just about to re-assume his walking when a noise caught his attention.

Brows ceased, he looked into the direction where it had come from. But when he glanced at his companions it was quite obvious that they were oblivious to anything... they probably wouldn't have noticed a monster-frog hopping by.  
"Um... stay rooted right here. Just gotta check something out."

With that the boys watched in amazement as Kakashi disappeared in the thick crowns of the large trees surrounding them.

----------

"What the heck...?" Staring down from his tree, the silver-haired jounin watched Maito Gai beating the living daylight outta a poor tree.

"If I can't beat you Miro, I'll do 1000 push-ups in twenty minutes!" The man in the green spandex yelled into the silence, his fists pounding the nearly crashed tree trunk faster and harder, until it fell into the ones surrounding it.

"If I can't beat you in running 500 laps, I'll do 600 extra"  
Raising his fist high into the air, Gai sprinted off into another direction, leaving behind a very perplexed looking Kakashi and a ton of unanswered questions.

----------

"What was that crap about? Was that Miro his friend you told me about"  
Looking up from the cup of steaming coffee, Asuma gave Kakashi a sideways glance before exhaling a cloud of grey smoke.

"Yeah, they've been best friends for centuries or so... heard they'd meet every friday when they had no missions, to do one of their stupid competitions"  
"Stupid competitions?" Kakashi repeated incredulously.

"Yeah." Turning to his right, he found Genma chewing lazily on a senbon, staring out of the large windows of their meeting room.  
"They used to compete in silly fights. Who'll run 500 laps in that time, who'll need air first during a dive, who's teeth shine brighter today and so on and so on... those fights were always combined with something stupid the loser had to do and no-one ever dared to ask 'why' they actually did it... they even had a score running!"

"And now he's left alone to whatever this is, huh?" Kakashi asked, sweaping a hand across his partly hidden features.  
"Right... he's on leave for the next two weeks or so to recover, but hasn't paid the medics one visit yet. Heard some of 'em were quite pissed off." Genma smirked. "But, enough of him... how'd the date go with that hot chick, Kakashi? And I want all dirty details!" He continued with a leer.

"Um... what date?"

----------

This was probably... no scratch that. This 'was' the best thing he had ever read!

Flipping back to the beginning of the book, Kakashi read once more the title of his now favourite novel 'ever!  
'Icha Icha Paradise' had exceeded his wildest fantasies... and had made them come true in form of written words! What great imagination lay behind this masterpiece of art!

Pursing his lips, the silver-haired man hoped he'd some day meet the mysterious author of the books (until now only two parts had been published) and get the chance to thank him for sharing his 'thoughts' on such a risque topic!

But well, he first had to find out the guy's name (God forbid 'he' was a 'she'!) and right now he had other stuff to do.  
as in writing three reports he should have finished about two days ago. Kakashi was getting lazier and lazier every day.

He just didn't find the energy to get back to the straight-to-the-book-ninja he had been some years ago.  
And until now, nobody had complained (too much) about his late arrivals and way too unbelievable excuses. He knew the Hokage and if he had a problem with Kakashi's attitude he'd be the first to get the younger man's head washed.

Chuckling, Kakashi got up from the roof edge and moved his shoulders to get some muscles relaxed that were still sore from the last mission. Maybe he should have worked harder on his tai-jutsu and not just rely on his brain and the Sharingan. Though he had to admit, that the title 'Copy Ninja of Konoha' that was slowly finding its way into every bad guy's vocabulary made him a bit proud...just a tiny lil bit.

Smiling happily underneath the black mask, he walked to the other side of the roof and was just about to jump onto the next one,  
when his eye caught sight of a man with a bowl hair-cut walking past the house through the empty street.  
He wasn't limping as bad as last week, but with his trained eyes, Kakashi noticed immediately the way he tried hard not to stay off his newly healed leg.

Kakashi's gaze followed Gai as he rounded a corner, heading to the south gate of Konohagakure.  
'It's friday...', he thought bitterly, knowing where his train of thoughts was heading quickly... feared and securely locked away terrain.

'His best friend...' a voice in the back of the train mumbled as it rushed past a gate barricaded with chains and traps.  
No way he would go there!

There were other things to do, other thoughts to take care off.  
There were still three reports lying somewhere in his apartment. And there was still the second part of the Icha Icha series to read... again. And there was still that woman Kakashi had to find to tell her that he was unbelievable sorry for not having appeared on their date... though there was still a grey area in his mind about that problem (he would have to ask Genma how much he had exactly drunk that night to forget 'that'!).

Listening to the fading footsteps of the other man, Kakashi sighed heavily.

Maybe next time he would say 'hello'.

----------

"Four hundred... sixty-seven"  
Panting heavily, Gai pushed his upper torso off the ground, sweatdrops falling down his chin onto the soil.

"Four hundred... sixty-eight"  
'Another thirty-two, dammit! How weak am I anyway!' Gai asked himself silently as he felt the sore bones in his left arm protesting under the heavy work-out of its owner.  
The medics had told him not to overdo it just now... somehing about his bones being the most important thing he had as a only-tai-jutsu-user. Sometimes he hated being 'the' expert for taijutsu!

"Four hundred... sixty"  
"Not gonna make it, pal."

Thick brows knitted into a irritated frown as Gai wiped his head around, looking startled at the voice that had broken into his training.  
Right behind him on a log (a tree that had had the dubious luck to become Gai's vent after 'the' mission... don'tthinkaboutitdon'tthinkaboutitdon'tthinkaboutit), a silver-haired jounin had his nose buried so deep into an opened book,  
that Gai feared he would break through the cover with his nose!

"Hatake Kakashi, right? The Copy Nin"  
"Yeah... so what? Gonna make the last thirty-something or are ya already too worn out?" Kakashi asked, not looking up from his book.

Jaws clenched and eyebrow twitching, the black-haired man turned his head back around, facing the dirty ground again.  
Something was brooding inside his guts... something he hadn't felt in some time.

The will to fight.

He would show that wannabe genius what a man was! Hard work would always beat stupid luck of having the right genes!  
Even with a full-body-cast, Maito Gai could wipe the floor with that guy's sorry ass!  
Eyes gleaming, new energy surged through his muscles, giving him the power to finish the last push-ups in no time.

Jumping up from the ground with a one-million-dollar smile plastered on his face, Gai gave the men still sitting behind him, reading the orange book of his with seemingly unbroken interest, his special, only reserved for appropriate situations,  
Nice-Guy-Pose, his teeth twinkling in the fading sun.

"Haha! And you thought the green beast of Konoha wouldn't make it! In what a cruel world do you live that you lose faith in real men!" He told Kakashi with pride literally coating every word he uttered.

"Huh? Did ya say anyhing?"

Again his jaws clenched as he gave Kakashi one of his best glares.  
He would pay for this display of disrespect!

"What do you want here anyway? You must have followed me since nobody knows of this secret training place of mine." Gai declared,  
waving his arms around dramatically to get his point clear.  
"'ve been bored... nothing to do for pals like me. No maiden in distress or bad guys to take care of."

"Maybe you should read your dirty novels elsewhere for I will not stop traning and I will take no considerations to ensure your safety here, Hatake Kakashi." With that, Gai turned towards an old, tall tree towering above the small clearing Gai and his friend had produced in years of hard training and competitions.

"Alright, am finished with this." A loud 'clap' could be heard as Kakashi shut the book noisly.

Trying not to pay any attention to the man behind him, Gai started kicking the tree in front of him... though it was getting harder with every second ticking by.  
"I heard you've been training here for years... nice job ya did, ya know, with the lovely craters and dusk everywhere...and you're absolutely right. That tree so doesn't fit into the landscape."

Narrowing his eyes, Gai concentrated harder on the splintering bark.

"According to what I've heard of you..." Kakashi ducked as parts of the tree trunk came flying his way, "you must have had some fine sparring matches with your buddy here, right?"

Fist stopping dead in mid-air, Gai bit the inside of his cheek hard, tasting iron.  
"Stop." He told the other man in a low, dangerous voice.

"The score is 32 to 31 for you"  
"Shut up."

"What a way to win a competition"  
"Shut. Up."

"With one point leading? What a shame"  
"Shut the hell up! Dammit!"

Swivelling around, Gai was at Kakashi's throat within the fraction of a second, lifting him up into the air and pressing him against the rough bark of a tree on the other side of the clearing.  
His chest was rising irratically with every shuddering breath he drew in.

But instead of finding regret or at least surprise on Kakashi's face, all Gai could see were two eyes, one red and one black,  
smiling smugly down at him.  
"You're slower than I thought... maybe you need a new training partner. Don't want you to get slow on your old days, right?"

"Wh... what the hell are you up to"  
Releasing his grip slowly from around Kakashi's collar, Gai finally let go and stepped back some feet, giving the other man some room... and maybe himself, too.

Straightening his messed up shirt and covering his left eye with the forehead-protector again, Kakashi sweapt his hand across his shoulders to wipe off some imaginary dust and dirt.  
"You can't keep on dwelling in the past forever, Gai. Believe me. 've been there, tried it and failed miserably."

Gulping down the lump in his throat, the man in the green spandex-suit listened as Kakashi continued.  
"No-one can bring back the dead... but there are still ways to keep them alive... even if that is only for you." He said,  
closing his eyes momentarily as the picture of his fallen or missed comrades and friends flashed through his mind. "Eventually you will be able to live on, live for both you and the friends you've lost."

"It's hard."

"Life and death. Nothing is harder than dealing with those two bitches. Now you can choose between surrendering to fate or showing it your shiny ass."

Chuckling humorlessly, Gai put his hands onto his hip, eyes casted downwards.  
He was standing in a large crater his best friend had produced during one of their fights people would call idiotism and laugh at. He suddenly felt like making the hole some extra centimeters deeper.

"I've always had way too much free time on fridays and always intended to work some more on my tai-jutsu. How 'bout I even the score for your friend and take the lead?" Kakashi asked non-chalantly, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and cocking his head to one side. He regarded Gai for a very long time with a bright grin, his eye crinkled up slightly as he waited patiently for any kind of reaction.

"You choose the first competition, my friend."

Nodding, Kakashi walked casually over to where he had been sitting on the lock some minutes ago.  
"Well, then we should get started... or I won't have enough time to celebrate my victory"  
"You wish, Kakashi!" Gai told him with a short laugh.  
"If I lose against you, which is very unlikely, I will climb this tree", he pointed at a monstrous tree, "100 times only with three fingers!"

"Whatever...so lets see..." Kakasha made a show of thinking hard about some big, huge, honkin' problem, staring up into the sky thoughtfully. "Alright, I challenge you to find out exactly what time it is by asking the first person you meet! If that person doesn't tell you the time or if I get the wrong time, you've won."

"Is that all? To beat Maito Gai, there has to be more of a fight! You will need an army to win over the green beast of Konoha,  
a man having just reached the best years of his youth! The man who will take on every obstacle you throw into his way! A man,  
whose..."

He got interrupted rudely by a coughing Kakashi.  
"Yo, Gai!"

"Yes?"

"What time is it"  
Pulling up his sleeve, Gai took a close look at his watch.

"Twenty-three past six? Wh...y"  
"Thanks a lot... If I am correct, the score is 32 to 32, am I not?"

Eyes twinkling mischievously, Kakashi got up from the log, strolling happily past a shiny-toothed man, who made a good impression of a goldfish out of the water.  
"See ya around, Gai." The other man waved 'goodbye' over his shoulder, before disappearing in the crowns of the trees surrounding the clearing.

Clenching his hand tightly into a fist Gai looked up into the slowly darkening sky, lips pursed as his eyes turned dark with fighting will.

'I will soon lead again, my new rival!' He thought triumphantly as he walked over to the enormous tall tree, gripping the bark with only three fingers and slowly pulling his body up...

--------------------

FINIS!

Weep! I want an eternal rival too... preferably Kakashi... maybe Gai too, but if I had to chose, Kakashi it is (sorry Gai, but he wins again...) R&R .'


End file.
